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The purpose of this project is to document the maternal lineage of all people with the HVR mutations 769, 1018, 1631. These markers define the mtDNA haplogroup currently designated L3, a subgroup of Haplogroups L and L3’4.

Defining Mutations

Coding mutations 8701, 9540, 10398, 10873, 15301

Origin

Haplogroup L3 is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. It has an estimated age of 84,000 to 104,000 years. In his popular book The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes named the originator of the L haplogroup Lara.

Distribution

L3 is most common in East Africa. In contrast, L3’s sister groups L1 and L2 represents two thirds of all mtDNA in other parts of Africa.

A relatively small number of migrants carried L3 across the Red Sea to Arabia. That group eventually settled every major land mass on Earth except Antarctica. So, the L3 is parent group of every non-African haplogroup and of most of the world’s population outside Africa.

L3 also spread south with Bantu migrations over the past few thousand years. The Atlantic slave trade carried it to the Americas as well. Today L3 and its subgroups are found among more than 25% of the African-American population.

Subclades of L3

L3 is the parent group of L3a, L3b'f, L3c'd'j, L3e'i'k'x, L3h, M, and N. The vast majority of non-Africans are descended from M and N, and their subgroups.